Accelerated aging of distilled liquors



INVENTOR June 23, 1936.

w. A. CARRELL ACCELERATED AGING OF DISTILLED LIQUOBS l Filed May 5, 1954 Patented June 23, 1936 PATENT OFFICE ACCELERATED AGING OF DIS'IILLED LIQUORS Wilbur A. Carrell, Pittsburgh, Pa.

Application May 5, 1934, Serial No. 724,053

2 Claims.

My invention relates to whisky, rum, brandy, and other alcoholic distillates or liquors which are intended for drinking, and more particularly the invention consists in a method of quickly aging such liquors.

It will be understood that liquor coming from the still contains butyl alcohol, amyl alcohol, and other oils or alcohols in such state that the liquor is unt for drinking. Hence, the liquor must be rectied or aged before it is t for consumption. The so-called aging, or the rectifying of the liquor is essentially a chemical process in which the more harmful and distasteful ingredients of the green liquor are cured, or are converted into substances which give the desired avor and bouquet to the liquor. The chemistry involved is complicated, and the chemists are not in accord as to what the various reactions are. A detailed consideration of the chemical reactions is not essential, to enable one skilled in the art to practice my invention, and, accordingly, I shall so far as practical avoid chemical theory.

It has been known hitherto that the aging process may be accelerated by heating the liquor in the presence of charcoal, but, so far as I am aware, no one has provided an application of this knowledge which is practical under the conditions of present day manufacture. The Government has established a denite procedure which al1 licensed persons must follow in the manufacture of liquor. The purpose of the governmental regulation and supervision is primarily to insure equal and uniform taxation, and to safeguard the public against inferior products. For manifest reasons, any aging process Which does not lend itself to the established regulations will not be tolerated. Furthermore, the attending dangers of re and explosion have prevented the use of most quick aging methods which have been proposed hitherto.

My object is to provide a method of quickly aging liquor-a method which is absolutely safe, and which is applicable under the existing laws.

In the accompanying drawing Fig. I is a diagrammatic view of a plurality of barrels organized with thermal apparatus in accordance with my invention, and in exemplary way is illustrative of how my method is co-nducted; Fig. II is a View to larger scale, showing the apparatus on the plane II-II of Fig. I; Fig. III is a View to still larger scale, showing, partly in side elevation and partly in vertical section, one of the thermal units of the apparatus employed; and Fig. IV is a fragmentary View, showing in vertical section the wall of a barrel and the body of liquor confined thereby.

In accordance with my method, I take the green liquor as it comes from the still, or as it is conditioned preparatory to bonding, and enclose it in the usual barrels, or other containers, in which the liquor normally is put in bonded storage. Such containers may be barrels l constructed of oak. As usual, the internal surfaces of the walls 2 of the barrels are charred, as indicated by the numeral 3 in Fig. IV. The green liquor is enclosed and sealed in the barrels I, and the barrels are arranged, and conveniently are aligned, in close juxtaposition in the storage room (see Fig. I)

I organize a thermal device 4 with each barrel. Each thermal device 4 includes a cylindrical body 5 which is closed at its opposite ends by headers 6 and 'I within the body 5 a coil 8 of copper tubing is housed; the tubing at the upper end of the coil is projected through the header 6, and at its lower end the coil is projected through the header 1. A packing gland 9 seals the passage of the tubing through each header. Continuing upward from the header 6, the tubing comprises a conduit I0 which terminates in a pipe coupling II (Fig. II) while projecting from beneath the header 1, the tubing comprises a conduit i2, terminating in a pipe coupling I3.

The side wall of each barrel may be drilled, to receive two tap-valves I4 and I5, one tap-valve being located near the top of the barrel and the other near the bottom, as shown in Fig. II. The conduit I0 is secured to the upper tap-Valve I4, by means of coupling Il, and conduit I2 is similarly secured to the lower tap-valve I5. Thus, it will be understood that the conduits Il) and I2, including between them the coil 8, comprise a by-pass between the top and bottom regions of the body of liquor stored in the barrel. It will be understood that a column of liquor is conned in the tubing 8, I0, I2, and that the body of liquor under treatment is sealed from the atmosphere.

I apply heat to the coil 8, and, in consequence of well-known thermo-syphonic action, liquor flows upward in the tubing. In consequence the body of liquor in the barrel is caused slowly to flow or circulate in the manner indicated by the arrows in Fig. II. The intensity of the heat applied to the coil is so determined that the temperature of the body of liquor is normally below 150 degrees F.; preferably, the temperature is maintained at about 120 degrees F., this apparently being the most effective temperature. Fig. IV illustrates the advantageous circulation of warm streams which the thermal or syphonic action effects in the body of liquor. A small continuous stream of liquor is by-passed from the bottom of the barrel to the top, and heat is applied to such stream. The stream is drawn, relatively cool, from the bottom of the body of liquor, and is returned at elevated temperature to the top of the body. The temperature differential between the top and the bottom of the body of liquor, together with the momentum of the slowly flowing, lay-passed stream, eifects a continuous movement from the center of the body outward, whereby warm circulating streams flow from within the body of liquor into contact with the charred wall 3 of the barrel (see Fig. IV).

In the practical application of my invention I organize a plurality of container units-the charred barrels I in this casein alignment, and with each container unit I organize a thermal device 4 in the manner already described.

As has been already mentioned, the fire, hazard is great in heating alcoholic liquids. With this in mind, it will be perceived Vin the follo-wing description that the particular method I have developed for supplying heat to the group of thermal devices 4 is advantageous from thestandpoint of safety. Returning to Fig. III, it will be observed that cylinder 5 and headers 6, 'I define a closed'or sealed housing for the coil 8. The header 'I is provided with an inlet passage I6, controlled by a valve I I, and the header 6 includes an outlet passage I8. suitably heated liquid at `from 120 to 150 degrees F; is introduced through valve I'I, caused toflow upward through and around the coil 8, and then discharged by way of outlet I8. Advantageously, hot oil is supplied to and circulated through the housing 5, 6, 'I, to heat the coil 8. The heated oil (or other liquid) has a boiling point above the temperature to which the liquor is heated; that is, the oil has a boiling point of `at least 150 degrees F.

As indicated diagrammatically in Fig. I, I provide an inlet or feeding manifold I9 and an outlet manifold 20.- The inlet valve I1 of each thermal device 4 is connected to the inlet mani- `fold by means'of a pipe ZI, while, by means of a suitable pipe fitting (23), a pipe 22 connects the outlet passage I' of each thermal device to the outlet manifoldl 20. I provide a `boiler 24 for heating the oil, which may comprise a light lubricating oil. The boiler is safely stationed at a point remote from the storage room in which the barrels I are located; the outlet of *Y the boiler is connected by a pipe 25 to the inlet manifold I9, and a return pipe 25 connects the .outlet manifold 20 to the intake of the boiler. 4A pump 2l' is organized to effect the flow of oil hazard whatever, the coil 8 of each thermosyphon II), I2 is supplied with heat. It will be noted that the oil continuously ows in closed cycle from the boiler 24 and back again; the pump 21 manifestly may be a variable discharge pump, whereby the rate of flow of the hot oil may be regulated to effect controlfof the tem- Vunderstand, a thermostatic mechanism perature to which the liquor is heated. The inlet valve I1 of each thermal device 4 affords independent regulation of flow through each device, and regulation of pump 2l admits of overall regulation of flow through the system. Thus, the rate at which heat is supplied to the liquor of each unit container (each barrel I in this case) may be determined to a nicety, and optimum conditions may be maintained for the accelerated curing or quick aging of liquor. Alternatively, or additionally, a thermostatic control mechanism may be included with the boiler 24. Ihat is to say, the boiler may be a gas red boiler, and, as the engineer will readily (not shown, but of well-known structure) may be organized to control the supply of fuel to the boiler, so that the temperature (to which the circulating oil or other liquid is heated) is automatically regulated.

When the barrel has once been used for the curing of liquor (certainly in the case of whisky), it is saturated with impurities, or is substantially or practicaily exhausted of the avoring and coloring substances with which the liquor must be supplied. In any case, the barrel does not serve with best results if it be used a second time, and the best practice has been to use a,

barrel only once.

It will be observed that the thermal devices 4 may readily and in a moment be attached to and detached from the barrels, whereby new barrels may be conveniently substituted for those which have been used; There is no difficulty in interchanging the barrels, and there is no incentive to depart from the recognized best practices of the art.

I claim as my invention:

l. In the aging of distilled alcoholic liquor, the herein described method, which includes enclosing the liquor in the presence of charred wood in a plurality of independent unit containers, by-passing a column of liquor externally of each container between two levels in the body of liquor contained therein, heating a liquid, having a boiling point of at least 150 F., at a point safely removed from said containers, distributing the heated liquid and maintaining circulating streams thereof severally in thermal communication with said by-passed columns of liquor, and thereby raising the temperature of the conned bodies of liquor to approximately 120 F. and producing thermo-syphonic ow in the several bodies of liquor.

2..In the accelerated aging of distilled alcoholic liquor, the herein described method, which includes enclosing the liquor in a plurality of independent charred wooden barrels, heating a liquid, having a boiling point of at least 150 F., in a station safely removed from said containers and conducting said liquid in heated condition to a supply manifold, by-passing streams of said heated liquid from said manifold severally into thermal communication with the bodies of liquid confined in said barrels, and, by thereby rraising the temperature of said bodies of liquor to approximately 120 F., maintaining thermo-sypho-nic iiow or circulation in the several independent bodies of confined liquor.

WILBUR A. CARRELL. 

